"Totally Baseless": Bhutan rejects reports of stopping water for Assam

New Delhi : Bhutan on Friday rejected media reports which claimed that it has stopped water supply to farmers in Assam. They termed the reports as 'totally baseless' and called them a 'deliberate attempt' by vested interests to cause misunderstanding with India. 

In a statement, Bhutan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that since June 24, 2020, several news articles in India alleged that Bhutan has blocked water channels that supply irrigation water to Indian farmers in Baksa and Udalguri districts in Assam adjoining the country's Samdrup Jongkhar district.

"This is a distressing allegation and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs would like to clarify that the news articles are totally baseless as there is no reason why the flow of water should be stopped at this time," it said.

"It is a deliberate attempt by vested interests to spread misinformation and cause misunderstanding between the friendly people of Bhutan and Assam," the ministry said.

Bhutan's statement came hours after Assam Chief Secretary Kumar Sanjay Krishna, in a late night tweet, termed the media reports as "incorrect" and said that the actual reason was natural blockage.

"Recent media reports about Bhutan blocking water supply to India has been incorrectly reported. The actual reason being the natural blockage of informal irrigation channels into Indian fields! Bhutan has been actually helping to clear the blockage," Mr Krishna said.